AXPONA 2025

with his irrational jealousy. Under truth serum he would admit to coveting all the high priced equipment that he sh-ts on here. Does your wife ever read Vogue? Do you turn off the TV when you see ads for Mercedes? The aspirational is present in this hobby as it is with wine, food, comic books, home theater equipment, cars, watches, clothing, houses...You sound like a cranky complaining ass-wipe. A broken record of relentless negativity.

"Entering the hushed, curtained-off, two-story Club Room felt like crossing into sacred space."

I get it, we are all fanboys up to some point. Some people just hit the 'bullshit threshold' sooner than others. Not 'jealousy,' more bullshit fatigue.

Ferraris, wine, jewelry, Hi Fi....I admit to having seen enough of the LVMH Audio Crowd this past decade.

Again, not jealousy, I would not hand them my money of I were an oligarch. The veblen Hi Fi world is just giving too much of a 'don't look behind the curtain' vibe these days.

For fun, watch these people on the videos when they are asked about prices. You can see the last vestiges of shame left in them flicker right as they start to answer.

covers their R&D. A very cynical take on it. How do you know how many hours went into these products?

Very true.

The economic system in the west allows people to get rich by selling people what they want and not the way it used to be done in the past: raiding their villages, killing all the men, taking the women and children as slaves.
I'm glad someone put this system together and some of the technology will be available in less expensive components.

I realize that not everything has to be an investment, but a system like this (and a suitable home required to put it in), would be a more suitable expenditure for a multi billionaire IMO.

I bet that, on a dollar for dollar basis, a pair of LS50s will depreciate far less over time than this rig and all its individual components will (see Ken Fritz).

On the upside, I guess we should all be glad that high end audio equipment loses so much of its value so quickly. I guess it would take a billionaire to not even care.

I do not believe that this 0.1% of net worth is an apt metric to apply to an audiophile budget.

A person with a net worth of one billion dollars generally has FAR less than a billion in liquid, cash assets to spend on things like stereo equipment.

Of that billion, the majority is likely tied up in non liquid assets like equity in corporations and real estate. The real estate quite likely has a substantial debt to service on its own. Plus there’s the added taxes and maintenance costs of those beachfront vacation homes and pied a terres.

I could see a person with a billion in net worth even struggling to pay the bills some months if they have cash flow problems.

Yes, if the billionaire is an ardent audiophile I’m sure they could find a way to swing a system like this. Even if, at over 2 mil, it’s over 0.2% of their net worth. But I bet it could be a bigger stretch than we would think.

Then you got the intangibles, like negative WAF for all this massive gear. And we KNOW that potential buyers of this rig are all men. LOL

I'm always amused by how many arguments the haters use against excellence, Jason. It's a shameful expense; you're awful people; it's not better than mine; you can't hear it anyway; it's not scientific; it has nothing to do with music; what's wrong with the world, dammit? They got a dozen. Snake Oil!

The neat trick is how obvious their materialism becomes when they presume everybody else's.

The overall argument holds no water. As Darko says, it's a transparent cope.

Too bad the comments board doesn't self-manage this rude annoyance like some others do. Oh, and that's another motivation: They comment just to troll. Forced misery.

Keep on keepin' on, JS. Regular people appreciate the best.

Your response was necessary and articulate. What none of the usual gang of negative troll types ever talk about is the love of music. While extremely expensive, this equipment has been created to be in the service of providing incredible musical enjoyment for those who want to take it to this level. I am content with my 25k system built over time. It plays music beautifully. But just because I can't afford an original Matisse or Francis Bacon doesn't mean I can't appreciate those works and don't feel jealousy and resentment towards those that can actually collect important works of art. I feel the same when I see a "statement" system like this. I simply say "wow" and I don't get all worked up about something I will never be able to afford.

Please tell us.

I appreciate your passion for music art and life, we are sitting in the same boat. I assume most Stereophile readers are.

I have encountered the world of high End at the age of 20 in a small shop in Toulouse, France . That was some 20 years ago. I still remember being humbled by the mighty Focal Utopia Em (130,000€at the time) and the immaculate finish of the Sonus Faber Stradivari (30,000€)

20 years after and many many shows under my belt I too became cynical and bitter with the new pricing regime of the High End world. Not because of jealousy but because of the clear observation that unless factory raises their prices they will be out of the game. More money=better is the latest trend. This pricing hyperbole is nothing but an empty shell, a mockery to the true beautiful essence of audio experience music. With so many layers of ***shit it is hard to concentrate on tiny glowing flame that sits within the products, passion, joy, admiration for music.

I am a professional carpenter and building my own equipment, I know the cost of Labor, materials etc… really sad to see the world of high end ridiculously trying to sell the story of the Emperor’s new clothes story to highly educated consumers.

Still, I am so glad you are who you are and you do what you do, this is what counts in the end.

Generally speaking, there is a correlation between cost and fidelity, and it’s not even a loose one. Otherwise, why are you even here and not trolling cnet?

I think you’re confusing value for dollar for the law of diminishing returns. This system is an extreme case of the latter, not the former. It’s not for everyone, and that’s the point.

to learn that many companies that market expensive gear cite the U.S. as one of their strongest markets. Before the whole tariff debacle, at least.

The headline, for which I cannot take credit, served its purpose. It drew you in.

Wish we could ask Elon Musk if he would want this ugly monstrosity of a system in his house.

The Wadax gear costs even more than the dCS Varèse stack.

the Ford less taken.

I'd check with Dan D'Agostino before I said that Krell and Dan D'Agostino gear share DNA. Dan may be the constant, but Dan has worked with other engineers since he, Rondi, and Krell parted ways. In addition, he's made quite clear in interviews I've conducted and published that, in his opinion, Krell went down a wrong path where measurements rather than sound became the chief obsession. Listen to his interview about the new Pendulum integrated which, so far, has been posted to Stereophile's YouTube channel.